Prime minister and queen Beatrix at Bilderberg conference

Queen Beatrix, prime minister Mark Rutte and D66 leader Alexander Pechtold are among the guests attending this year’s Bilderberg conference in Chantilly, the US this weekend, the Volkskrant reports on Friday.

Bilderberg conferences are notorious for their supposedly secretive nature. While there are no votes and the atmosphere is informal, participants are not supposed to talk about discussions or other participants, the Volkskrant states.

The list of politicians, business leaders and others notables attending this year includes Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, Belgium’s crown prince Philippe, Henry Kissinger and former chess champion Gary Kasparov, the paper says.

Questions

Marianne Thieme, leader of the pro-animal PvdD, has asked the prime minister to explain what he is doing at the conference.